Our Vision and Mission

Our mandate
Parliament gave the Commission the mandate to challenge discrimination, and to protect and promote human rights.

Our vision
We live in a country with a long history of upholding people’s rights, valuing diversity and challenging intolerance. The EHRC seeks to maintain and strengthen this heritage while identifying and tackling areas where there is still unfair discrimination or where human rights are not being respected.

Our mission

A catalyst for change and improvement on equality and human rights.

Our roles

Outcomes-focused strategic regulator

Promoter of standards and good practice

Authoritative centre of intelligence and innovation

Trusted partner

Strategic plan 2012-2015

Our current strategic plan was published on 27 March 2012. Find out more about our Strategic plan 2012-2015.

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What we do and how we do it: the Commission's remitThe Commission is a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB), established under the Equality Act 2006 as a corporate body. Our sponsor department is the Government Equalities Office (GEO). We have a board of Commissioners who steer the Commission's work and direction.

Many of those who worked in the previous equality Commissions joined the new Commission, creating a body with an enormous wealth of experience and knowledge about race, sex and disability equality and discrimination. Many people have since joined the Commission - experts in sexual orientation, age, religion and belief and human rights and people with skills and experience in all relevant functions.

Where we work

The Commission covers Great Britain i.e. England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland. We have offices in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a regional presence in 9 offices in England and 1 in North Wales. For details of how to get in touch, see contact us.

EHRC Framework document

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a new framework document which sets out its relationship with government and how it operates as an independent Arms Length Body (ALB).

The framework document has been drawn up in partnership with the Department for Media Culture and Sport. It has been developed to be consistent with the provisions of the Equality Act 2006, which enshrines the operational independence of the Commission.

The document details how the Commission operates in areas such as spending controls, recruitment and answering parliamentary questions in way that ensures it is able to fulfil its statutory functions while remaining fully accountable for its corporate performance and use of public funds.